A toxin produced by gut bacteria sets off a chain reaction in the brain that leads to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. And what you put in your mouth can control it.
Great article Robyn. Neurologist, Dr Dale Bredesen, the guru of alzheimers reversal (especially in early stages) has restoring the gut microbiome at the top of his list, achieved by eating a fibre rich, heavily whole food plant based diet. His Bredesen protocol actually addresses at least 36 contributing factors that drive alzheimers, including things like chronic inflammation from any area, especially periodontal disease. He has explained the mind numbing stupidity of drugs that target beta amyloid plaque, explaining it is a defence mechanism, not a cause at all. He cant' get public funding for his protocol. Wonder why??? surely not because it doesn't involve any drugs and wont make big pharma billions. Surely, they don't influence who those funding bodies like the NIH give money to? Of course not !
The Bredesen approach is really exciting... but not if you're from Big pHarma! The whole idea of targeting beta amyloid, which is way downstream of the causes of Alzheimer's, is ludicrous.
We are working with a Bredesen practitioner for my father. But we are doing strict keto, with virtually no fibre at all. The results have been nothing short of astonishing. My dad is my back. A year ago he couldn't hold a conversation. Now he can functions almost normally, and is just a little forgetful at times. Long may it last.
But regardless of which sort of real-food journey people embark upon, I think it is safe to say we will all continue to be bombarded with useless drugs that have many side effects.
Very glad to hear your father is doing well. As Red_Pill_Aussie alluded to, you can certainly do keto with high fibre and that would offer other disease-prevention benefits.
It's a well kept secret, it seems, as You state, Dr Robyn, that Fibre is where it's at for wellness...'The Incredible Health Benefits of Short-Chain Fatty Acids in the Digestive System ...Short-chain fatty acids are made when beneficial gut bacteria break down dietary fiber as it travels through your digestive tract. This occurs in a process known as fermentation. Fermentation yields a number of different health-supporting compounds such as vitamins, proteins, and fatty acids...Short-chain fatty acids are the preferred fuel source for the cells in the human gut microbiome. This is important as these cells play a vital role in gut barrier function and immune regulation.
SFCAs also have anti-inflammatory effects, which is beneficial given that inflammation is at the root of many chronic diseases (1).
Butyrate, in particular, has been shown to be protective against colorectal cancer (2). This is likely due to the fact that butyrate can inhibit the growth of cancerous cells and induce cell death (apoptosis).
Short-chain fatty acids have also been shown to reduce diarrhea symptoms, which may be beneficial for individuals with digestive health issues like IBS-D...SCFAs regulate the gut-brain axis
The gut-brain axis is a complex system that includes the gut microbiota, the enteric nervous system (ENS), and the central nervous system (CNS). This system is responsible for communication between the gut and the brain.
SCFA mediate communication between the gut and the brain through the various channels, such as:
The Vagus nerve
Hormones and the endocrine system
Neurotransmitters
Dysregulation of the gut-brain axis and/or poor gut health has been linked to several neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, and depression.
Acetate and the other SCFA have been shown to modulate the gut-brain axis by influencing the production of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine (12)
They also play a critical role in the development and function of microglia, a type of immune cell designed to protect your brain and spinal cord...'
Love this Robyn, you convey nerdy info very accessibly and at a level I can follow so thank you! I was interested in the info on the toxic bacteria as I have been managing a pre cancerous skin lesion for some time now. It was first diagnosed at the beginning of 2017 and resulted in a complete overhaul of mine and my husband's diet. We went keto without the dairy and ate huge amounts of salad and veggies with chicken or fish and a lot of coconut oil. I did a 7 day fast at one stage with three coffee enemas spaced over the week, must say the enemas are full on but by golly do you feel cleaned out afterwards. Plus other modalities of healing like Kambo Frog Medicine, Ayahuasca Circles. The colonic I had was pretty good too, it all worked slowly over time and at the end of 2019 the lesion was gone. Our diet has developed over time and I wouldn't do all that fat again, however much it might be a healthy fat. But the lesion started to come back at the beginning of 2021. Was probably some diet in there but I think it was probably all the stress at the time of the mandates. I have noticed that stress impacts the lesion sometimes and I have had it on the retreat because I'm more relaxed even when my diet may not be entirely perfect. I think of it as my canary in the coal mine and avoid going to allopathic doctors about it anymore. The last time was too traumatic. The lesion just a few weeks ago started going in the wrong direction, due to it's location my husband has to tell me how it's going and this was his report. So I took out some addictive processed food that had crept into what is an organic whole food diet the rest of the time and the lesion started looking better in the space of a week. I had also not long before added 2 tablespoons of linseeds to my heavy metal detox smoothie that I have 5 days a week. So seeing the info about the presence of the toxic bacteria in the stools of people with pre cancerous lesions was most interesting. I do eat salad most days, in winter we often put our stews on a bed of salad so that it is warm. Also eat whole fruits quite a lot, on my 3 night shifts every week I always have a raw spinach soup and a fruit salad of whatever organic yummies are in season. Particularly excited when I can get strawberries. Of course there is so much you can do as well as nutrition but I do think that doing a big detox initially and then coming back to detoxing protocols regularly can give you a solid foundation from which to try other modalities of healing, especially meditation and yoga for me. Thanks again for this awesome article. (-:
What a fascinating journey you've been on! You might be interested to read about Karen Campbell (wife of nutrition professor T. Colin Campbell) and her melanoma experience. I think Dr Campbell discusses it either in The China Study or Whole. I would look it up for you but all my books are in storage right now. In any case, she had a melanoma on her leg, and was advised to have chemotherapy after the excision. Instead, she chose to do a supervised water-only fast. The wound healed well, and she has had no recurrent of the melanoma to this day (at least 15 years).
The easiest way to bump up your fibre intake is to eat legumes. In fact, it's pretty hard to hit 40 g per day without legumes as fruits and vegies have only a few g per cup whereas beans and lentils have 12-18 g per cup.
I don't have any doubt that stress plays a huge role in the onset and course of most, if not all, illnesses. Ever since I moved to an acreage in a rural area, my stress level has plummeted even though life has had its usual challenges (plus some extra ones, given the disturbing times we all live in). I am convinced that living in urban areas is inherently stress-inducing, and that anyone who lives in cities or suburbs needs to prioritise time in nature (walking on the beach, bushwalking, gardening, hugging trees) to help offset this stress.
Thanks, I will look up Karen Campbell. Funny you should mention legumes, I whipped up a lentil stew with onion, sweet potato, potato and carrot the other night and found it particularly delicious. Plan to eat more lentils. And I've gone from not liking mushrooms much to actively seeking them out. Might be due to moving away from eating chicken. Already live in the bush and find it harder and harder to go into urban areas. They are so stressful on so many levels. Luckily my country town is good to shop for many important things, especially our organic co-op so I can mostly avoid cities. Being out in Nature is the easiest way to get more grounded for sure.
I see more and more people getting the message that they need to be taking responsibility for their own health (something I've been banging on about for decades), and I hope to be able to play a positive part in that process. One of the many ways that they/them/those have manoeuvred people into a vulnerable position is by gulling them into giving over responsibility for their health to the 'expert class'. That has to stop, given the appalling record of those 'experts'.
Alzheimer's is slow and cruel, my mother-in-law is 5 years into that long emergency. I haven't fully read the research recommended in this article, but an important question comes to mind. The article says LPS gets through the gut wall, into the bloodstream, crosses the blood-brain barrier and decimates neurons. The main problem is the gut-wall is too permeable, no LPS should be able to escape into the bloodstream, so healing the gut-wall so LPS cannot escape would be very helpful. While there may be an over-abundance of the wrong type of LPS it should not leak through the gut wall. I'm sure eating more fibre would be helpful, but also collagen to heal the gut wall. What are your thoughts about it?
So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. It's a brutal disease both for the victim and everyone around them.
The gut wall is made overly permeable primarily by lack of butyrate, which is a product of bacterial fermentation of fibre. Despite the many claims made for collagen, there is not a shred of published evidence that it decreases gut wall permeability, and nor is there good reason to think that it would. Intestinal hyperpermeability results from failure of the tight junctions between the epithelial cells that line the gut. This has nothing to do with collagen, which is a key component of connective tissue, not epithelial tissue. The current fad for collagen is just the latest in a long line of 'health food' chicanery.
There certainly is a lot of conflicting information out there about how to heal leaky gut. I've read before about butyrate, but increasing fibre intake seems better than taking a supplement form. How to replace connective tissue in the body without consuming collagen or other animal products?
Butyrate supplements are expensive, and they taste and smell awful. It just doesn't make sense to take a supplement of something that your own gut bacteria will make for you for free, if you just provide the substrate that they need.
Connective tissue growth is promoted by placing some demand on the tissue in question e.g. weight-bearing exercise promotes the growth and repair of cartilage and bone. The key nutrients for collagen synthesis are vitamin C, zinc, copper, manganese and the non-essential amino acids proline, glycine and hydroxyproline. All of these except zinc are more abundant in plant foods than animal foods; you can get enough zinc if you include seeds and nuts in your diet regularly.
Great article Robyn. Neurologist, Dr Dale Bredesen, the guru of alzheimers reversal (especially in early stages) has restoring the gut microbiome at the top of his list, achieved by eating a fibre rich, heavily whole food plant based diet. His Bredesen protocol actually addresses at least 36 contributing factors that drive alzheimers, including things like chronic inflammation from any area, especially periodontal disease. He has explained the mind numbing stupidity of drugs that target beta amyloid plaque, explaining it is a defence mechanism, not a cause at all. He cant' get public funding for his protocol. Wonder why??? surely not because it doesn't involve any drugs and wont make big pharma billions. Surely, they don't influence who those funding bodies like the NIH give money to? Of course not !
The Bredesen approach is really exciting... but not if you're from Big pHarma! The whole idea of targeting beta amyloid, which is way downstream of the causes of Alzheimer's, is ludicrous.
We are working with a Bredesen practitioner for my father. But we are doing strict keto, with virtually no fibre at all. The results have been nothing short of astonishing. My dad is my back. A year ago he couldn't hold a conversation. Now he can functions almost normally, and is just a little forgetful at times. Long may it last.
But regardless of which sort of real-food journey people embark upon, I think it is safe to say we will all continue to be bombarded with useless drugs that have many side effects.
Very glad to hear your father is doing well. As Red_Pill_Aussie alluded to, you can certainly do keto with high fibre and that would offer other disease-prevention benefits.
It's a well kept secret, it seems, as You state, Dr Robyn, that Fibre is where it's at for wellness...'The Incredible Health Benefits of Short-Chain Fatty Acids in the Digestive System ...Short-chain fatty acids are made when beneficial gut bacteria break down dietary fiber as it travels through your digestive tract. This occurs in a process known as fermentation. Fermentation yields a number of different health-supporting compounds such as vitamins, proteins, and fatty acids...Short-chain fatty acids are the preferred fuel source for the cells in the human gut microbiome. This is important as these cells play a vital role in gut barrier function and immune regulation.
SFCAs also have anti-inflammatory effects, which is beneficial given that inflammation is at the root of many chronic diseases (1).
Butyrate, in particular, has been shown to be protective against colorectal cancer (2). This is likely due to the fact that butyrate can inhibit the growth of cancerous cells and induce cell death (apoptosis).
Short-chain fatty acids have also been shown to reduce diarrhea symptoms, which may be beneficial for individuals with digestive health issues like IBS-D...SCFAs regulate the gut-brain axis
The gut-brain axis is a complex system that includes the gut microbiota, the enteric nervous system (ENS), and the central nervous system (CNS). This system is responsible for communication between the gut and the brain.
SCFA mediate communication between the gut and the brain through the various channels, such as:
The Vagus nerve
Hormones and the endocrine system
Neurotransmitters
Dysregulation of the gut-brain axis and/or poor gut health has been linked to several neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, and depression.
Acetate and the other SCFA have been shown to modulate the gut-brain axis by influencing the production of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine (12)
They also play a critical role in the development and function of microglia, a type of immune cell designed to protect your brain and spinal cord...'
https://centrespringmd.com/the-incredible-health-benefits-of-short-chain-fatty-acids-in-the-digestive-system/
Excellent summary of some of the manifold benefits of butyrate and the other SCFAs - thank you for sharing it!
Love this Robyn, you convey nerdy info very accessibly and at a level I can follow so thank you! I was interested in the info on the toxic bacteria as I have been managing a pre cancerous skin lesion for some time now. It was first diagnosed at the beginning of 2017 and resulted in a complete overhaul of mine and my husband's diet. We went keto without the dairy and ate huge amounts of salad and veggies with chicken or fish and a lot of coconut oil. I did a 7 day fast at one stage with three coffee enemas spaced over the week, must say the enemas are full on but by golly do you feel cleaned out afterwards. Plus other modalities of healing like Kambo Frog Medicine, Ayahuasca Circles. The colonic I had was pretty good too, it all worked slowly over time and at the end of 2019 the lesion was gone. Our diet has developed over time and I wouldn't do all that fat again, however much it might be a healthy fat. But the lesion started to come back at the beginning of 2021. Was probably some diet in there but I think it was probably all the stress at the time of the mandates. I have noticed that stress impacts the lesion sometimes and I have had it on the retreat because I'm more relaxed even when my diet may not be entirely perfect. I think of it as my canary in the coal mine and avoid going to allopathic doctors about it anymore. The last time was too traumatic. The lesion just a few weeks ago started going in the wrong direction, due to it's location my husband has to tell me how it's going and this was his report. So I took out some addictive processed food that had crept into what is an organic whole food diet the rest of the time and the lesion started looking better in the space of a week. I had also not long before added 2 tablespoons of linseeds to my heavy metal detox smoothie that I have 5 days a week. So seeing the info about the presence of the toxic bacteria in the stools of people with pre cancerous lesions was most interesting. I do eat salad most days, in winter we often put our stews on a bed of salad so that it is warm. Also eat whole fruits quite a lot, on my 3 night shifts every week I always have a raw spinach soup and a fruit salad of whatever organic yummies are in season. Particularly excited when I can get strawberries. Of course there is so much you can do as well as nutrition but I do think that doing a big detox initially and then coming back to detoxing protocols regularly can give you a solid foundation from which to try other modalities of healing, especially meditation and yoga for me. Thanks again for this awesome article. (-:
What a fascinating journey you've been on! You might be interested to read about Karen Campbell (wife of nutrition professor T. Colin Campbell) and her melanoma experience. I think Dr Campbell discusses it either in The China Study or Whole. I would look it up for you but all my books are in storage right now. In any case, she had a melanoma on her leg, and was advised to have chemotherapy after the excision. Instead, she chose to do a supervised water-only fast. The wound healed well, and she has had no recurrent of the melanoma to this day (at least 15 years).
The easiest way to bump up your fibre intake is to eat legumes. In fact, it's pretty hard to hit 40 g per day without legumes as fruits and vegies have only a few g per cup whereas beans and lentils have 12-18 g per cup.
I don't have any doubt that stress plays a huge role in the onset and course of most, if not all, illnesses. Ever since I moved to an acreage in a rural area, my stress level has plummeted even though life has had its usual challenges (plus some extra ones, given the disturbing times we all live in). I am convinced that living in urban areas is inherently stress-inducing, and that anyone who lives in cities or suburbs needs to prioritise time in nature (walking on the beach, bushwalking, gardening, hugging trees) to help offset this stress.
Thanks, I will look up Karen Campbell. Funny you should mention legumes, I whipped up a lentil stew with onion, sweet potato, potato and carrot the other night and found it particularly delicious. Plan to eat more lentils. And I've gone from not liking mushrooms much to actively seeking them out. Might be due to moving away from eating chicken. Already live in the bush and find it harder and harder to go into urban areas. They are so stressful on so many levels. Luckily my country town is good to shop for many important things, especially our organic co-op so I can mostly avoid cities. Being out in Nature is the easiest way to get more grounded for sure.
That lentil stew sounds delicious - just the thing to warm you up on a cold winter's night!
How exciting. This will be a weekend read for me...!
Great information, you are a true humanitarian Robyn.
I see more and more people getting the message that they need to be taking responsibility for their own health (something I've been banging on about for decades), and I hope to be able to play a positive part in that process. One of the many ways that they/them/those have manoeuvred people into a vulnerable position is by gulling them into giving over responsibility for their health to the 'expert class'. That has to stop, given the appalling record of those 'experts'.
Alzheimer's is slow and cruel, my mother-in-law is 5 years into that long emergency. I haven't fully read the research recommended in this article, but an important question comes to mind. The article says LPS gets through the gut wall, into the bloodstream, crosses the blood-brain barrier and decimates neurons. The main problem is the gut-wall is too permeable, no LPS should be able to escape into the bloodstream, so healing the gut-wall so LPS cannot escape would be very helpful. While there may be an over-abundance of the wrong type of LPS it should not leak through the gut wall. I'm sure eating more fibre would be helpful, but also collagen to heal the gut wall. What are your thoughts about it?
So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. It's a brutal disease both for the victim and everyone around them.
The gut wall is made overly permeable primarily by lack of butyrate, which is a product of bacterial fermentation of fibre. Despite the many claims made for collagen, there is not a shred of published evidence that it decreases gut wall permeability, and nor is there good reason to think that it would. Intestinal hyperpermeability results from failure of the tight junctions between the epithelial cells that line the gut. This has nothing to do with collagen, which is a key component of connective tissue, not epithelial tissue. The current fad for collagen is just the latest in a long line of 'health food' chicanery.
There certainly is a lot of conflicting information out there about how to heal leaky gut. I've read before about butyrate, but increasing fibre intake seems better than taking a supplement form. How to replace connective tissue in the body without consuming collagen or other animal products?
Butyrate supplements are expensive, and they taste and smell awful. It just doesn't make sense to take a supplement of something that your own gut bacteria will make for you for free, if you just provide the substrate that they need.
Connective tissue growth is promoted by placing some demand on the tissue in question e.g. weight-bearing exercise promotes the growth and repair of cartilage and bone. The key nutrients for collagen synthesis are vitamin C, zinc, copper, manganese and the non-essential amino acids proline, glycine and hydroxyproline. All of these except zinc are more abundant in plant foods than animal foods; you can get enough zinc if you include seeds and nuts in your diet regularly.
Thanks for that, very interesting:-)